Pawls have been used previously to eccentrically drive ratchet gears in a forward or reverse direction. The spring loaded driving pawl of this invention has the capability of being disengaged from the ratchet and manually rotated 180.degree. to accomplish forward or reverse driving of the ratchet wheel. In addition the driving pawl can be completely disengaged from the ratchet wheel and rotated to a neutral position in which the ratchet is not driven. As applied to a cutter arm of a bottom unloader employed in a silo or the like, this permits load relief on the cutter arm to facilitate easier start up of the arm. A holding pawl also is operable in the same manner as the driving pawl. The tooth of each of the pawls is off center with respect to the center line of each ratchet gear tooth which allows the teeth of the pawl to engage the opposite faces of each tooth of the ratchet when rotated 180.degree. to drive the ratchet in a forward or reverse direction.